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Tesla Model Y VINs are going out to buyers ahead of imminent nationwide deliveries

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Tesla Model Y VINs are being released to the first batch of production cars ahead of next week’s customer deliveries.

Tesla Model Y buyers in the US, including those in New York, Florida, Georgia, California, and beyond, are finding references to their vehicle’s identification number, otherwise known as a “VIN”, in their vehicle’s online purchase agreement. TMC user johnmodely, on the other hand, was able to find their Model Y VIN after viewing the source code for their Tesla Account page. Teslarati has also confirmed with a Model Y reservation holder in Southern California that a VIN has, in fact, been assigned to their vehicle.

This isn’t the first time we’re hearing of Tesla Model Y VIN numbers being uncovered. Earlier this year, a  batch of Model Y VIN registrations were spotted in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) database, during which time the Elon Musk-led electric carmaker was preparing for the first production units from its Fremont factory in California. Now, two months later, the first set of Model Y VINs are being shared by their owners on the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forum, giving a first look at the Model Y configurations being prioritized for delivery.

The discovery also comes days after a trailer full of Model Y was spotted outside of Tesla’s Fremont factory, presumably on their way to delivery centers across the nation. Just yesterday, images of Model Y were uncovered in Tesla’s latest mobile app update, further validating that the company was preparing for the imminent arrival of their first all-electric crossover.

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Tesla’s release of Model Y VINs to buyers is part of the final process before a customer takes delivery.

Taking a closer look at the vehicle identification number, we can learn more information about the Model Y including its motor configuration, the year in which the vehicle was produced, and also the location for production.

Tesla Model Y VIN Decoder

All Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y can be identified by the “5YJ” that’s set in the first three characters of the vehicle’s VIN. The three digits represents what’s referred to as the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI) and uniquely identifies the manufacturer of the vehicle.

  • Digits 1 – 3: World Manufacturing Identifier
    • 5YJ = Manufacturer: Tesla Inc.
  • Digit 4: Make/Line/Series
    • S = Tesla Model S
    • 3 = Tesla Model 3
    • X = Tesla Model X
    • Y = Tesla Model Y
  • Digit 5: Body Type and Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
    • A – Hatch back 5 Dr/ LHD
    • C = Class E (6001-7000 lbs) GVWR / MPV / 5 Dr / LHD
    • E = Sedan 4 Dr / LHD
    • F = Sedan 4 Dr / RHD
    • G = Sport Utility Vehicle (5,001 – 6,000 lb) GVWR /Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV)  of 1D: .
  • Digit 6: Restraint System
    • 1= Type 2 manual seatbelts (FR, SR*3) with front airbags, PODS, side inflatable restraints, knee airbags (FR)
    • A = Type 2 manual seatbelts (FR, SR*3, TR*2) with front airbags, PODS, side inflatable restraints, knee airbags (FR)
    • B = Type 2 manual seatbelts (FR, SR*2, TR*2) with front airbags, PODS, side inflatable restraints, knee airbags (FR)
    • D= Type 2 Manual seatbelts (FR, SR*3) with front airbags. PODS, side inflatable restraints, knee airbags (FR)
  • Digit 7: Fuel Type
    • E = Electric
  • Digit 8: Motor/Drive Unit
    • 1= Single Motor – Standard
    • 3= Single Motor – Performance
    • 2 = Dual Motor (Standard)
    • 4 = Dual Motor (Performance)
    • A = Single Motor – Standard
    • B = Dual Motor – Standard
    • F = Dual Motor – Performance
  • Digit 9: Check Digit To be assigned by manufacturer pursuant to 49 CFR § 565.6(c)
  • Digit 10: Model Year
    • C = 2012
    • D = 2013
    • E = 2014
    • F = 2015
    • G = 2016
    • H = 2017
    • J = 2018
    • K = 2019
    • L = 2020
  • Digit 11: Plant of Manufacture
    • F = Fremont, CA
  • Digits 12: Production Series:
    • A = Alpha Prototype
    • B = Beta Prototype
    • R = Release Candidate Vehicle
    • P = Production Vehicle
    • S = Signature Series Vehicle
    • F = Founder Series Vehicle
    • 0-9 = Production Vehicle (replaces P to allow 6 digit sequence numbers)
  • Digits 13-17: Unique serial number

Gene has been obsessed with cars since before he could legally sit in the front seat. Writer, researcher, unofficial CS support, accountant, native suit guy when needed, and overall stick poker. He approaches every story the way he approaches a road trip: with too much enthusiasm, not enough planning, and a surprisingly good outcome. gene@teslarati.com

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Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.

The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.

On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.

Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD

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It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:

“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”

This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.

It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something

There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ Release Notes: new capabilities and features

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(Credit: Megan Gale/Twitter)

Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.

Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.

Here are the full release notes for the suite:

  • Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
  • Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
  • Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
  • Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
  • Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
  • Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.

These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

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He added:

“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”

Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released

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tesla model 3 model y
Credit: Tesla Inc.

Tesla has finally released its Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite for older cars that equip the Hardware 3 or AI 3 chip, which have not been able to handle the newest versions of the company’s driver assistance software.

Tesla officially started releasing the v14 Lite suite to owners in the Early Access Program last night. The company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said that the rollout will continue over the next few weeks. The build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of an AI3 car.

It also includes a variety of new features that were available to AI4 cars running v14, including:

  • Start Self-Driving from Park
  • Arrival and Parking Options
  • Speed Profiles

The release is highly anticipated because those owners with AI3 vehicles were early adopters into the FSD platform and were promised that their cars would be capable of achieving Full Self-Driving.

However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk admitted during the company’s recent Q1 Earnings Call that these vehicles would not be capable of achieving unsupervised Full Self-Driving, which is what Tesla had originally said.

Owners were not pleased with this answer, or the idea that their commitment to buying the suite outright for thousands of dollars would not yield the ability to drive without operating the car. Tesla gave some solutions for this, including a discount on a new car, or an upgrade to an AI4 or AI5 self-driving computer and new, upgraded cameras.

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Tesla owners do not seem pleased with these options, as they require giving the company more money.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that Tesla came through for owners here by releasing v14 Lite before the end of Q2, something it had promised owners during the previous Earnings Call. Tesla has had trouble keeping up with timelines, but this is a big achievement for the team.

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